This document discusses Clicklaw Wikibooks, an experiment by Courthouse Libraries BC to publish legal information using a wiki platform. It highlights three wikibook titles created so far - Legal Help for British Columbians, JP Boyd on Family Law, and upcoming People's Law School titles. The goals were to create collaboratively updated resources that are easily searchable and accessible online and in print. Challenges included keeping printed guides up-to-date and developing an online version that was findable, usable and integrated other resources. Wikibooks have allowed for multiple contributors, immediate updates, and production of print from the same digital source.

1. October 6, 2011
Beyond Hope Library Conference June 2013
Clicklaw Wikibooks: A Law Library’s Experiment in
Publishing, aka What Happens When a Wiki Meets a Book?
Janet Freeman

2. Overview
 Courthouse Libraries BC programs to help the
public: LawMatters, Clicklaw, CLBC Reference
 Clicklaw Wikibooks: why and how?
• Legal Help for British Columbians guide
• JP Boyd on Family Law
• People’s Law School titles
 Questions and comments

3. Courthouse Libraries context
Four pillar approach to
meeting the public side of our
mission…

4. A website with plain
language legal info
Online resources that are
frequently updated and can be
printed
Helping public libraries provide
current legal information
CLBC website and legal
reference assistance
LawStartBC: How we help the
public find and use legal
information

5. Courthouse Libraries BC Community Outreach team:
Nancy Hannum and Janet Freeman of LawMatters,
Brenda Rose of Clicklaw, and Drew Jackson,
Director, Client Services.

6. Since 2008, LawMatters has
provided grants, recommended
titles for purchase, and training on
how to do legal reference.
LawMatters sponsors community
legal information forums at public
libraries.
www.bclawmatters.ca and
www.bclawmatters.blogspot.ca

7. clicklaw.bc.ca

8. 30 courthouse branches in BC
in-depth law books & free use
of legal databases on public
access computers
assistance from law librarians
(in Vancouver and 6 regional
libraries or 1.800.665.2570)
website courthouselibrary.ca
features legal information
aimed at legal community
Or email:
librarian@courthouselibrary.ca

9. Questions from the public are up 70% in the last six years:
30% of total in 2007
43% of total in 2012
Rise in public’s use of

10. Importance of public legal
information
―The law delivers too many ambulances at the bottom of cliffs
and not enough railings at the top.‖
The End of Lawyers? by Richard Susskind (London: Oxford University
Press, 2008)

11. October 6, 2011
Clicklaw Wikibooks
An experiment in born-digital publishing

12. What is a wiki?
A wiki is a website that is easy to edit by
many people collaborating together.
The term wiki actually means "fast" or
"quick" in Hawaiian – the idea is that
updates can be made very quickly.
Wikipedia is the leading example of a wiki.
But wikis can be used for many purposes
that support collaboration – conference
websites, intranets, communities of
practice, etc.

13. libsuccess.org

14. The plain language guide ―Legal
Help for British Columbians‖ was
such a nice starting point for 30
common legal problems that we got
copies for all public libraries in BC

15. Challenges
Within a year, the Legal Help for British Columbians
guide needed updating
We put a PDF of the guide online, but it was
not very findable or usable online - at 75 pages, not
easily searchable, external links not practical
Yet the print continued to be highly valued in
library settings where computer literacy can be a
major issue
But as good as the Legal Help Guide
was, there were some challenges

16. Why a Wikibook?
We wanted a collaborative authoring
environment to enable updating by
many contributors
We wanted an affordable tool:
Mediawiki is an open source platform
We wanted it to be easy for users: As it
looks & feels like Wikipedia, the end user
experience is familiar
We wanted online and print versions:
A wikibook is born-digital but can also
produce print from the same source
We decided to turn
the Legal Help Guide
into a ―wikibook‖,
using the Mediawiki
platform that
powers Wikipedia

17. We used a wiki
platform to put the
Guide online, opening
up access to it

18. We recruited a dozen
lawyers and other
subject matter
experts to be
contributors &
reviewers

19. Familiar experience
for end users
Various ways to
navigate within the
Guide, including
searching

20. External links to key
resources
Integration with
Clicklaw HelpMap
where available

21. Currency information
Wiki pages can be updated
immediately to reflect
changes to the law. The bottom of each
page indicates
currency.

22. Wiki can be updated
collaboratively over the
Internet by contributors

23. Book creator enables us to
assemble wiki pages into a
single PDF file that can
then be printed

24. Creative Commons
Free, easy-to-use
copyright licenses that
provide a simple,
standardized way to give
the public permission to
share and use your
creative work — on
conditions of your
choice.

25. NEW

26. The Family Law Context
38% of all Canadian marriages end in divorce
70,000 divorce orders annually
Only 1% proceeds to an actual trial
Increase in self-represented litigants: (Ontario)
• 46% (1998-2003)
• 54% (2009-2010)
Causal relationship between unresolved legal
problems and increased health, social welfare
and economic problems.
Excerpts from Final Report of the Family Justice Working Group,
April 2013

27. The Family Law Context
In BC Provincial Court family matters:*
A startling 90 to 95% are unrepresented by a lawyer
* An Agenda for Justice, presented by the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch February 2013
** The National Self--Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of
Self--Represented Litigants, May 2013.
In BC Supreme Court generally :**
self- representation was running at 35% in 2012

28. Before JP Boyd on Family
Law…
… there was www.bcfamilylawresource.com:
The sole work of family lawyer John-Paul Boyd
over more than 10 years
Plain spoken, and often humorous, approach to
public legal information
5,000 visitors per week
Many hundreds of static pages, sample forms,
―How-Do I?‖ pages

29. JP Boyd on Family Law…
Updated for the new Family Law Act
Interlinked with other quality sources (Legal
Services Society, Canadian Bar Association, etc.)
Fully searchable
Exportable for PDF, printing and libraries —
still 630 pages when printed!
15 senior family lawyer editors, plus as many
junior lawyers — cross-mentoring tech-savvy
juniors and law-savvy seniors
Multi-disciplinary Advisory Committee (lawyers
like JP Boyd and Megan Ellis QC, plus librarians
like Deb Thomas, Deputy Chief Librarian of
Burnaby Public Library, and others)

30. Helping other organizations publish
Clicklaw Wikibooks

32. - David Lankes, The Atlas of New
Librarianship and Expect More: Demanding
Better Libraries For Today's Complex World

33. Next Steps:
Printing of updated 2013 Legal Help Guide
and JP Boyd on Family Law for public libraries
Investigating print-on-demand and e-pub
options
Supporting Peoples Law School and others in
experimenting with the wiki platform
Future wikibooks titles

35. Questions and Comments?